Peter W. Kaplan

American newspaper editor

Peter Wennik Kaplan (February 10, 1954 – November 29, 2013) was an American editor known for modernizing New Journalism for the digital age. He was the editor in chief of the New York Observer, a weekly newspaper, for 15 years. The Kingdom of New York, an anthology of articles from the famously pink paper, was co edited by Kaplan. In 2010, he worked as the editorial director of Fairchild Publications' Fairchild Fashion Group, where he helped oversee the relaunch of M, a men's magazine, and oversaw Women's Wear Daily, Footwear News, Menswear, the newly formed Fairchild books division, and other ventures.

Kaplan was born to a Jewish family in South Orange, New Jersey, the son of Roberta (née Wennik) and Robert Edward Kaplan. Both his parents were from New York City. His mother was a psychotherapist and his father was the owner and president of clothing manufacturer Complex Industries Corp. While at Columbia High School he joined the newspaper, The Columbian. He had two brothers, the writer James Kaplan and Rob Kaplan, an network executive at NBC and CBS and business owner. He went on to obtain his degree from Harvard University

On November 6, 2009, Kaplan appeared on The Charlie Rose Show, where he discussed the future of newspapers with regards to the Internet and mobile devices such as the Amazon Kindle, and Apple's iPad. Two former editors from the New York Observer, Peter Stevenson and Jim Windolf, turned Kaplan into a Twitter character with two personalities, "Wise Kaplan" and "Cranky Kaplan," followed by insiders in the New York journalism community.

He died of cancer in New York City on November 29, 2013, according to his second wife, Lisa Chase, His first marriage was to Audrey Walker; they had three children: Caroline, Charlie and Peter Kaplan. Services were held at the Larchmont Temple.